


Keep a Secret

by Lokibabypyth



Series: Mercy [3]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Caring Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley is Good With Kids (Good Omens), Domestic Fluff, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), M/M, Other, Parents Aziraphale and Crowley (Good Omens), Snake Crowley (Good Omens), South Downs Cottage (Good Omens)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:49:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21819202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokibabypyth/pseuds/Lokibabypyth
Summary: Mercy is getting older, and starting to ask questions, which leads Crowley and Aziraphale to have to talk to her about their celestial nature.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: Mercy [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1514534
Comments: 1
Kudos: 54





	Keep a Secret

Aziraphale had barely stepped into the cottage before he heard the patter of little feet running towards him.  
“Hi papa!” Mercy bounded over and the angel scooped her up, giving her a big hug. She was always thrilled when he came home from the bookshop at the end of the day. Really, it was quite adorable.  
“Hello sweet girl.” Aziraphale replied. “Where’s mum?”  
“I dunno.” The four year old shrugged. “We’re playing hide n’ seek.” Her cherubic face turned very serious as she whispered (all too loudly) “But I think being a snake is cheating.” She kicked her feet to get down and Aziraphale set her on the floor, chuckling.  
“You know, I think you’re right.”  
Mercy looked as though she might dart off again, but then she stopped. A thought had occurred to her very suddenly. “Papa? Can you turn into a snake?”  
He supposed these questions would eventually be inevitable, but so soon? He and Crowley had agreed around her first birthday not to point out the differences between themselves and humans. They didn’t want it to weigh on her at such a young age; they certainly never showed her their wings. Now, however, Mercy seemed to have inherited Crowley’s detrimental curiosity, and was pursuing knowledge on her own. “Well...no, my darling, I can’t.”  
“Can I?”  
“I doubt it.”  
“Can you turn into a girl like mum does sometimes?” She was following him over to the sofa. Aziraphale sat down and Mercy climbed into his lap, not too gracefully.  
“I suppose I could. I haven’t before, I never felt it would suit me.” She nodded, thoughtfully; the wheels in her head still turning. She took a breath to ask another question but was interrupted as she caught a movement on the floor out of the corner of her eye. Crowley, still a serpent, was slithering out from under the sofa. “Hi mumma, look! Papa’s back. Also I knew you were prolably under the couch.”  
“Want to turn mum back into a person?” Aziraphale asked, his little girl nodded and reached out to tap Crowley’s nose. As she did, Crowley shifted back to his human appearance. It was just a silly thing he often let her do. The child didn’t seem to have any real celestial abilities, but that didn’t mean Crowley and Aziraphale couldn’t let her feel like she was just a little bit magical.  
“Mumma? How come you can turn into a snake?” Aziraphale had rather hoped Mercy would get distracted and drop it, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. He glanced at Crowley, giving him unspoken permission to answer her honestly.  
“It’s rather hard to explain, my love...” Crowley sat on the floor, legs crossed. “You know how in your storybook that we read at bedtime there are angels, right?” The child nodded. “Well, a long long time ago, I was an angel sort of like that.” Mercy’s eyes widened.  
“With wings and everything?!” She exclaimed. Crowley laughed at her excitement.  
“Oh yes, wings and everything.”  
“Do you have wings now? Where are they?” The little girl slipped off of the sofa and ran around Crowley’s back, looking for any feathers.  
“You want to see them?” Crowley asked.  
“Yes!” Mercy jumped up and down, taken by the very idea. The demon indulged her, allowing his huge black wings to manifest and stretch out behind him. “Whoa.” The little girl gasped. “They’re pretty! Can I touch em?”  
“You may, only on the top side though.” The demon smiled, graciously.  
“So you’re can turn into a snake because you’re an angel?” Mercy inquired further, still transfixed by the mass of inky feathers in front of her.  
“I *was* an angel, love. I’m not anymore. Here, come and sit with me, we’ll talk. I don’t want you to be frightened.” She clambered over and plopped down in Crowley’s lap, gazing at him expectantly.  
“Now, papa is still an angel.” Crowley gestured to Aziraphale, who brought out his own wings as well.  
“Papa’s wings are white!” Mercy exclaimed, reaching out to see if Aziraphale’s wings felt different from Crowley’s. They didn’t.  
“Yes, darling, they are. Now, my wings aren’t white. They used to be, but a long long time ago I made a very bad choice that meant I couldn’t be an angel anymore.” The demon answered.  
“Oh.” Mercy’s inquisitive, joyous expression turned very serious as she was beginning to piece together that Crowley might not be a ‘good guy’. “That’s why you look kinda scary?” There was no denying that there were certain things about him that just looked otherworldly in a threatening way. His eyes, for example, which he often kept covered up in the presence of humans. His fangs, his black claws, and his forked tongue were other points of incongruity compared to the way that humans generally looked. Still...she’d never described him as scary before. Up until a moment ago, as far as Mercy understood, her mum just looked a little funny.  
“Yes it is.” Crowley sighed. “I’m what the humans call a...well, a demon.” It was a scary word, not a good word. Generally, you wouldn’t want a four year old to know that there was a ‘demon’ anywhere near her. But Crowley simply had to tell her. He was her mother, and despite what he was, there would never be any reason for her to fear him.  
The child looked very worried, but she was trying to be polite about it. “Can I sit with papa now?” She reached up for Aziraphale, who lifted her up onto the sofa with him.  
Crowley felt hurt.  
“‘S still me, love. Still mum. I’d never hurt you, my star.” Crowley insisted, as softly as he could manage. She turned her face into Aziraphale’s chest, pointedly not looking at Crowley.  
Aziraphale cradled their daughter to him. “Mercy, you don’t have to be afraid.” He said. “Mum is different from me and from regular people but...he wouldn’t hurt you, or me. He loves us both very very much. Nothing’s changed.” The little redhead peaked out to glance at Crowley, and she seemed to consider this for a moment.  
“Can I go in my room now?” She asked. Aziraphale was about to tell her she should stay with them in the living room but Crowley chimed in. “Go ahead, poppet.” Little feet padded into the hallway and there was the soft click of a door shutting.  
Crowley crossed his arms on the couch cushion and tucked his face there. “She hates me, Aziraphale.” He mumbled.  
“Oh no, no no, Crowley. She doesn’t hate you, she couldn’t hate you.” The angel tried to soothe. “Learning something like that when the world is still so new and baffling to you already...she doesn’t have the benefit of coming into existence with a fully developed mind, and we’ll never know what that’s like. Her situation is exclusive to her only and she’s trying to make sense of it all. She’ll come around.”  
“...I love her more than the waking world.” Crowley whispered, desperately.  
“And she loves you. Give her a bit of time; she’ll come back to us when she’s ready.” The demon wasn’t sure if Aziraphale was right, but he did think it would be a wise decision to let Mercy have some space right now, so the redhead got up onto the couch with Aziraphale and reclined comfortably against his husband, doing his best to avoid worrying. The angel picked up a book which he’d perhaps read aloud to Crowley for a bit. Crowley wasn’t one to read but he did like the sound of Aziraphale’s voice.  
Perhaps an hour and a half later, both angel and demon had fallen into comfortable silence, just lounging and relaxing together on the sofa. Crowley was drifting. He hadn’t put his wings away, and Aziraphale was idly stroking the sensitive underside of them, which gave Crowley a nice buzz. The angel was, however, pointedly ignoring the parts of his wings that would be urgently arousing. Not that Crowley was complaining.  
Suddenly, both celestial beings heard Mercy’s door click open, before she all but tiptoed into the living room. She gripped a piece of paper in her little hand. The child approached her parents who were still cuddled up, and she tapped Crowley, who blinked his eyes open.  
“Hello, darling. What’s this?” He asked, pointing to the paper. Mercy handed it over. It was a drawing of 3 stick people labeled “mum”, “papa”, and “me”. On the right, the one that was meant to be Aziraphale had a yellow circle drawn above the head. Mercy had given Crowley red devil horns and black wings, she’d drawn his eyes with yellow marker...but above him she’d placed many hearts.  
“I made this for you.” She said, shyly. “An’ these are all the hearts cause I love you, so that makes you good.” Crowley beamed.  
“It’s beautiful! Thank you so much, my little star, I’ll cherish it forever.” And he would. The only thing there was left to do now was to teach a four year old to keep a secret.


End file.
